This episode of AEW Collision fell into the trap to which a few Collision episodes have fallen into since its launch, which is to bookend the show with tremendous action and fill the middle with filler. This week's show had enjoyable enough filler with Samoa Joe entertainingly squashing Gravity and some fun spots in the six man tag, but they simply felt superfluous to the show, as sadly did Mercedes and Kiera’s rather uninteresting affair in the semi main spot. To the show's credit every match felt unique and I don’t think any match was given too much or too little time, actually giving the show an entertaining flow, it just didn't amount to a great deal story wise. Had the show maintained the strength of its high points however it could’ve been an all time great episode of weekly TV, as Andrade vs Buddy and the main event tag title match were both outstanding, and completely different in style making them both feel electrically different. Darby and Suzuki, while equally as superfluous as some other filler on the show, was at least incredibly good fun, with Suzuki’s presentation the most legitimately unhinged and terrifying of any of his AEW matches to date. CM Punk and Ricky Starks provided the main story advancement for the show, but while the promo was predictably excellently delivered by both men, the segment left more questions than answers and didn't hit the heights it could’ve. Had the middle portion of the show been used to interestingly advance more storylines (perhaps for All In as we’re still no closer to any match announcements it seems) I think the show would have greatly benefitted and we’d have been looking at a 4+ star episode, but sadly it didn't get there for me. Still a great show though with three fantastic matches and a pretty fun flow.
Tonight on AEW Collision, the Blind Eliminator Tag Tournament winners get a shot at the gold, as MJF and Adam Cole take on FTR. Andrade also gets his revenge on Buddy Matthews in a ladder match, with Andrade’s mask as the prize to be won. Elsewhere on the card, Samoa Joe takes on Gravity, Mercedes Martinez returns to tv to take on Kiera Hogan, and Bullet Club Gold take on the team of El Hijo Del Vikingo, Darius Martin and Action Andretti… Lets get at it!
MUST WATCH Andrade El Idolo vs Buddy Matthews- Ladder Match
A terrific ladder match here combining brutal physical violence and some fun weapon spots. I hate the crowd’s incessant chanting of ‘we want tables’ throughout the early parts of this though, as I remind the crowd that these are professionals giving you outstanding wrestling and you’re more focused on making your own voice heard, though the crowd were still molten hot throughout. Please stop doing that, thank you very much. The action here was really superb though I still think more explanation as to why Andrades mask meant so much to him and so little to Buddy would’ve made this feel even more special and got me more into the match’s overall story. Nigel McGuiness did explain the connection to the mask and Andrade in Andrades entrance which was something, I just wanted a touch more of it in the build and through the match, because it would’ve made the final spot with the handcuffs feel even more special. I also think the match’s high spot of the sunset flip powerbomb onto a ladder, while remarkable, wasn’t sold for long enough from Buddy. Sometimes that’s an issue with a ladder match as there’s only so long people can stall before logic dictates they must climb the ladder, but Buddy recovered incredibly quickly from such a huge move. Thus I drop 0.25 for Storytelling and 0.25 for Psychology, but numbers are perhaps arbitrary with a match this fun and it was a perfect opening match. Brilliantly worked with the right winner! Props to both guys!
Result: Andrade El Idolo by Retrieval
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 4.5 Stars
Miro is attacked backstage by who I think is Aaron Solo but I’m not quite sure. Could be anyone. Regardless it is ineffective and Miro beats up the man. Interested to see where this goes.
GREAT Darby Allin vs Minoru Suzuki
Oh my heart soared when I saw Suzuki here. The fact that Suzuki vs Darby wasn’t announced but Samoa Joe vs Gravity was confuses me, but I will certainly take it. This is honestly the best Suzuki has looked in a long time. He was absolutely vicious here and Darby met him with equal ferocity. The reason these matches get high scores from me despite a low build is that they feel contained and brutal, with intent behind every move and a great in ring psychology of pain, with two monsters hitting each other harder and harder before Darby eventually must use his wit to outsmart Suzuki. Some wrestling matches, no matter how fun, can feel like moves for moves sake, but this was fast, furious and packed with painful intent. It was entirely without build and not especially long or complex so my rating is understandably limited on the WR scale, but I was obsessed with this from start to finish. MORE OF THIS PLEASE!
Result: Darby Allin by Pinfall via Roll-Through Pin
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.75 Stars
Post match we furthered the build to Luchasaurus vs Darby Allin with a good Christian Cage promo as expected, basically telling Darby to get his affairs with Swerve and AR Fox in order before dealing with him.
SQUASH Samoa Joe vs Gravity
A very short but entertaining squash, the highlight of course being Samoa Joe mocking Gravity’s walk as he walked away from a flying manoeuvre. Don’t know what this set up or why it was here beyond making Joe look like a monster, but I did get some laughs here and it was pretty easy to watch.
Result: Samoa Joe by Pinfall via Muscle Buster
GREAT CM Punk/Ricky Starks Promo
Punk cannot decide if he is a face, a heel, both or neither. Tonight he’s face I do believe, but the crowd can’t seem to decide either. Nevertheless Punk is great as always in his delivery, and the content is excellent, revealing the content of the bag to be the AEW World Championship, which he spray paints with his logo and taking shots at many different people, from Kenny Omega to MJF. This could have been an all time Punk promo, but we have reached the stage where the crowd’s confusion over Punk’s alignment is causing more confusion than I think it’s worth. Ricky Starks comes out and makes a strong challenge to Punk for a shot at Punk’s title next week on Collision, with Ricky Steamboat announced as the special referee. This is all confusing. Why are we fighting over a defunct title, why is the babyface disrespecting AEW, why Steamboat of all people, why aren’t we booking this week’s built match for All In. This was all well delivered stuff but there are just so many unanswered questions at this point that it made the segment confusing by its end and so took an amazing promo from Punk down a few notches with the lack of proper explanation, despite both men delivering their words excellently.
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.5 Stars
GOOD Bullet Club Gold (Juice Robinson and The Gunns) vs El Hijo Del Vikingo, Darius Martin and Action Andretti
A fun if slightly sloppy 6 man tag, with some very fun high flying action and some entertaining comedy from BCG. Some of the spots were a bit contrived and poorly handled in places, and I don’t really know what the point was, but in isolation I had a very entertaining time watching it and it’s good momentum for Juice and The Gunn’s in getting the win. I just really think Vikingo should be doing more than he is at this point, because the man is a human highlight reel struck in meaningless 6 man tags.
Result: The Gunn’s by Pinfall via 3:10 to Yuma
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 3.25 Stars
AVERAGE Mercedes Martinez vs Kiera Hogan
Well these are two women who we haven’t seen in a good while on AEW programming, with both occupied with ROH for a while. These two are good workers and the match was cleaner than the previous tag, but was unfortunately a lot slower. It was fine enough and both women hit some cool moves, but it unfortunately didn’t seem to click into second gear. Nice to see Mercedes get the win, but the post match with Statlander seems too soon in my opinion. Let her build over a few weeks back on AEW rather than jumping her straight into the TNT Title picture
Result: Mercedes Martinez by Submission via Brass City Sleeper
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 2.75 Stars
MUST WATCH FTR vs MJF and Adam Cole- AEW Tag Team Championship- Watch Match HERE
This was a beautifully told story, really really well delivered from all 4 guys. FTR are the best tag team on the planet and MJF and Cole work beautifully together as an act. The action was terrific, the clash of styles was really well done, and the match was gloriously entertaining. In my opinion the final minute or two went a little astray, with MJF’s shattered dreams kick looking quite bad (more bad framing than MJF’s fault but he missed by above five yards), before the ending sacrifice into the roll up had the potential to break hearts but just looked a little contrived to me. A shame as I thought the match was really outstanding and a great way to cap off this storyline, it just came apart a touch by the end. The post match was brilliantly performed, though I didn’t fully understand why MJF would tease a turn on Cole when there was no reason to. If that was the story being told then Cole should’ve lost the match and MJF shows forgiveness, making the whole thing make more sense. That made the post match clash slightly with the match storytelling, but that doesn’t take away from a job very well done!
Result: FTR by Pinfall via Roll-Up
David Sheldon WR Star Rating- 4.5 Stars
Overall…
This episode of AEW Collision fell into the trap to which a few Collision episodes have fallen into since its launch, which is to bookend the show with tremendous action and fill the middle with filler. This week’s show had enjoyable enough filler with Samoa Joe entertainingly squashing Gravity and some fun spots in the six man tag, but they simply felt superfluous to the show, as sadly did Mercedes and Kiera’s rather uninteresting affair in the semi main spot. To the show’s credit every match felt unique and I don’t think any match was given too much or too little time, actually giving the show an entertaining flow, it just didn’t amount to a great deal story wise. Had the show maintained the strength of its high points however it could’ve been an all time great episode of weekly TV, as Andrade vs Buddy and the main event tag title match were both outstanding, and completely different in style making them both feel electrically different. Darby and Suzuki, while equally as superfluous as some other filler on the show, was at least incredibly good fun, with Suzuki’s presentation the most legitimately unhinged and terrifying of any of his AEW matches to date. CM Punk and Ricky Starks provided the main story advancement for the show, but while the promo was predictably excellently delivered by both men, the segment left more questions than answers and didn’t hit the heights it could’ve. Had the middle portion of the show been used to interestingly advance more storylines (perhaps for All In as we’re still no closer to any match announcements it seems) I think the show would have greatly benefitted and we’d have been looking at a 4+ star episode, but sadly it didn’t get there for me. Still a great show though with three fantastic matches and a pretty fun flow.
Matches: 0.75/1 Stars
Show Structure: 0.75/1 Stars
Atmosphere: 0.75/1 Stars
Storytelling: 0.5/1 Stars
Production/Theme: 0.75/1 Stars
Overall Rating: 3.5/5 Stars
Photo Credit: AEW- July 29th 2023
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